


Tongue Tied at Some Gathering

by Slugly



Series: Empty Nest [3]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Character Study, Coming Out, Dialogue Heavy, Embarrassment, Established Relationship, Family Issues, Love Confessions, M/M, Masaru | Victor and Yuuri | Gloria are Twins, Masaru | Victor-centric, Nonbinary Character, Other, Rated for cursing, Trans Character, Worldbuilding, he/they pronouns for hop, idk how else to tag this, the pairing is the focus but they don't spend much time together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-02
Updated: 2020-07-02
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:26:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25025377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slugly/pseuds/Slugly
Summary: Victor underestimated the pressures of being Champion, and he's paying dearly for it. Luckily, his loved ones are there for him when he's ready. But it seems like everyone wants to talk about the one thing he can't explain.a character study of Victor and his family. title from lighthouse by mree
Relationships: Hop/Masaru | Victor, Masaru | Victor & Yuuri | Gloria, implied Dande | Leon/Kibana | Raihan/Nezu | Piers - Relationship, minor dande | leon/kibana | raihan - Relationship, minor yuuri | gloria/mary | marnie
Series: Empty Nest [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1610455
Comments: 4
Kudos: 26





	Tongue Tied at Some Gathering

**Author's Note:**

> quick note, victor's mum uses exclusively they/them for hop out of convenience, but most others switch regularly. for readability, i've made sure all references to hop are consistent in an individual fic, so everyone uses 'he' in this story excluding mum.
> 
> more below!

Winning isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Dozens of interviews, hundreds of autographs, thousands of faces of new fans later, Victor collapses against the door of his bedroom, feeling absolutely boneless. He's never, _never_ been quite this thoroughly exhausted.

He wants to take a three-day nap. He's been touring across Galar with Leon for interviews, all light-hearted but unreasonably stressful, for the past two weeks. At this point, he never wants to open his mouth again. Leon warned him it would be hectic in the following weeks, but he had no idea it would be quite this bad.

He can only imagine how awful it was for Leon, winning the Championship five years younger than Victor is now without the help of any hollering giants for best friends. Well, Leon has Raihan, and in that aspect Raihan and Hop are essentially the same- both powerful, both far too tall, both endlessly supportive. But Victor is pretty sure Leon and Raihan didn't know each other back then. So he must have been alone for all of this. Victor can't imagine.

Hop has been his everything. Well, Hop is always his everything, but these past weeks he's stuck to him like super glue. As per usual, if not for Hop, Victor would never have made it out of all this alive. Everyone else has been supportive too, but being family to the former champion has a lot of perks. Gloria and Marnie and Bede haven’t had nearly as many opportunities to visit Victor across the dozens of hotels he’s been essentially sampling. He and Hop haven’t been together _every_ day, but they’ve gotten close. It hasn’t helped quell the rumour mill about them, but Victor has gotten far past caring about that. He was embarrassed the first ten times interviewers asked him what they “were.” By now he’s settled to a simple ‘oh, Hop? I love him!’ with no elaboration. It’s saved him a lot of stress.

He could do with a lot less stress.

Victor is startled awake from his half-asleep daze, belatedly realising that he’s slid down the door and curled into a ball. Someone is knocking, and he twists around awkwardly, opening the door without bothering to stand.

Gloria looks down at him, unimpressed. He hasn’t seen his sister in _weeks_ , not since he became Champion. Even then, they barely got to connect before he was whisked away for photo ops and a very disorganised press conference. Before then, she’d been off doing something mysterious around Stow-On-Side, calling it ‘important business’. She refused to explain, but he thinks she was probably off messing around with fossils. Regardless of what she was doing, he feels like they haven’t talked in forever. Seeing her for the first time since he won is like dunking himself into ice water. The good kind. He thinks.

“When’d’you get home, you damn nickit?” She frowns, pretending to be disgusted. “Get off the floor.”

“Ugh. Glad to see you, too,” Victor laughs, totally sincere. He yanks her hand, the one still holding the doorknob, and forces her to sit next to him. They hug awkwardly in the door frame. She tries to pull away after a moment, but it hits Victor how much he’s been moving, at full speed with no stops for _two weeks_ , only to completely crash. He’s absolutely empty.

Gloria doesn’t struggle as he holds onto her, running a small hand through his messy curls. “That bad?” She sighs, patting his back. Victor grunts in response, burying his face in her shoulder. She smells like Mum’s detergent and grass, and probably just back from a run with rillaboom. It’s so distinctly _home_ that he wants to cry.

“I don’t know what I’m doing here,” he admits when he realises she’s not planning to say anything else. “I don’t want to keep doing this.”

Gloria stiffens, just slightly, in his arms. “This?” she questions, voice a bit frail.

Oh. She’s worried he’s… “I’m safe. I’m sorry.” Victor finally lets her go, sitting back with crossed legs. He rubs his eyes, tired and afraid he might start crying without warning. “I’m just… I really underestimated how hard it would be. To be a champion.”

She gives him a soft smile, not quite pitying but close enough for him to resent it. “‘Course it is, stupid. You thought Leon’s job was all rainbows and smiles? Man never took a bloody break. The stress stunted his growth and that’s why he’s a manlet.”

Victor groans. Gloria has never been the person to turn to for comfort, how does he always forget that? “I just wanna sleep, Glory. I haven’t slept right since Rose. Dunno how Leon managed without wantin’ to break somethin’.”

Her face softens further, but it’s a temporary slip-up. “Maybe you’re just not cut out for Champ life. That’s okay, y’know. No one’s gonna riot if you cock up finals next year.” She raises her brows expectantly. “I’m not sayin you throw the match, but… who knows what could happen a year from now? I dunno.”

Victor offers a withering glare, hoping it’s as unimpressed as he feels. “I wouldn’t wish this mess on anyone.”

She shrugs. “Doesn’t sound so hard. I wouldn’t hate it.”

“I’ve had ten hours of sleep total in three days! _Doesn’t sound so hard_ … Give me a break!” He cries, throwing his hands into the air. Gloria laughs.

“I can handle that. I like the challenge. And I’m a lot better around crowds than you, huh?” She shifts to lean against the door frame, watching him from the corner of her eye. “‘Sides. The only reason all the media is pouncin’ on you’s just ‘cause you beat the unbeatable. If I beat you it’d be nothin’. Leon was about to celebrate his tenth anniversary, and you swiped it.”

Victor buries his head in his hands. He _knows_. He agonised over it for days when the first interviewer brought it up. Leon has assured him time and time again that he doesn’t really care about some anniversary, but it doesn’t make him feel any less guilty. Leon already made history as the youngest champion in Galar, but he had the chance to break a second record as one of the longest-lasting, too, and Victor mucked it up for him at the last second.

Bottom line is, he feels bad. He’d feel bad no matter what, but the stress and sleep deprivation and increasingly intimate questions have piled on so thick he feels like he’s suffocating. Mew and Arceus above, he just wants to sleep.

“Don’t fall asleep on me,” Gloria threatens, smirking. She stands at once, brushing off invisible dust from her shirt. “Get some rest. I’ll wake you up if the world is ending or Mum makes apple curry.”

If he hadn’t just eaten with Leon and Hop, Victor’s mouth would be watering. “Ugh…” he groans, shuffling into an unsteady stand. “I love apple curry.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Gloria rolls her eyes, shoving him towards his bed. Behind her, Victor’s boltund races past, paws barely touching the hardwood floors as she chases a toy that cinderace must have thrown. “I’ll take care of all your kids for you,” she rolls her eyes fondly.

“Thanks,” he smiles slightly, not totally sure what all he’s thanking her _for_. As she leaves, his thievul appears in the doorway, whining confidently. He sleepily pulls off his socks and shoes, barely managing to get into sleep pants before he’s actually, physically, crashing into bed, thievul promptly joining him on the cramped twin mattress. He wraps his arms around him, sleepily satisfied with thievul’s soft fur against his burnt skin.

Four hours later, he barely stirs when Mum comes in to put on his covers properly.

When he wakes for real, it’s blindingly bright. Thievul must have left his side hours ago, because his bed is empty save for far too much fur. He blearily sits up, unsure for a moment what plane of existence he’s even on. That was an intense nap.

Well, nap might not be the right word for it. He checks his rotom phone, eyes wide as saucers at the four missed calls, thirty new messages, and dozens of Pelippr notifications displayed below the clock, which currently reads 10:56. He slept for _sixteen hours_. No wonder he feels like a new man.

He spends a solid half hour reading through all of his notifications, barely managing to open Pelippr before he’s overwhelmed with notifications for new followers and Peeps mentioning him. He carefully reads through the messages, mostly from the group chat between him, Gloria, Hop, Marnie, and Bede. A solid chunk are, interestingly, from Milo of all people, texts overflowing with cute emoji congratulating him on his most recently televised interview. It seems he missed a lot.

**Butterscotch | 10:43**

Good morning, luv! I’m in yr kitchen makin crepes with Mum, come down when you wake up x

**Me | 11:37**

Awe bloody hell I didn’t miss em did I? Why didn’t you wake me up :(

**Butterscotch | 11:37**

GOOD MORNING SLEEPYHEAD!!!!!!!

**Butterscotch | 11:38**

Didn’t wanna wake ye. Yr so cute when yr sleepin!

**Me | 11:38**

Hm... creepy

**Butterscotch | 11:38**

HEY RUDE!!!

Victor doesn’t bother to brush his hair or put on real pants, too excited with the prospect of seeing Hop just… sitting in his kitchen. He stumbles down the stairs, nearly tripping over munchlax, who is taking a nap on the lowest step. He hears Mum and Hop laughing over something in the next room over, hit with a wave of burning butter and fresh strawberries. Hunger hits him like a train, and his belly growls loudly. Victor plays it cool, walking into the kitchen slowly with a yawn for effect.

“Finally up, Sunshine?” Mum grins, chin resting in her palm. She looks so much smaller than Victor remembered. He didn’t get to talk to her much when he came home last night, so aside from their brief exchange during the championship he’s barely seen her in months.

“Where’s Mama? She and Leon out somewhere?” Victor asks them both. Hop’s and Leon’s mum is just as much his own after so many years. Mum and Mama are practically co-parents for the four kids.

Hop shrugs. “No clue about Lee, but she went out to Wedgehurst with Gloria.” He turns to Mum. “What were they doin’ again?”

“Shoppin’ for date clothes,” Mum provides, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

“Right, shopping for date clothes,” Hop repeats. “So Mum and I decided to make you breakfast. Though I s’pose it’s nearly teatime by now…”

“Sorry about that,” Victor huffs. He’s seriously never slept that long.

“Naw,” Mum makes a face, waving him off. “You clearly needed it. Slept like a roggenrola, love.”

Victor’s stomach growls again and he blushes, though for once it probably isn’t obvious; his ghostpale skin burned like mad during interviews in the August sun, and he’s still fairly rosy. Not that that’s any better. Now he just has a blush 24/7.

“I made spiced apple crepes special for you, Vic!” Hop exclaims, suddenly full of excitement.

“They made it themself,” Mum beams in pride, squeezing Hop’s arm from across the table like he’s her own child.

Hop laughs bashfully. “Mum helped me a lot,” he reasons, standing up to get them from the stove where they’re covered up in aluminum foil. “Should still be warm.”

Victor accepts the crepes gratefully, wolfing them down in front of Mum and Hop without hesitation. He makes an embarrassingly loud moan of appreciation, sure this must be the best thing he’s ever eaten. He hasn’t had food in a while, but he’s always a sucker for apples, and Mum’s cooking is ace, even if this wasn’t totally her doing.

He’s scarfed it down in minutes, blushing profusely at their reactions. Hop looks overjoyed, grinning ear-to-ear to see Victor enjoying his food so much, but Mum looks disgusted. “Victor Odhran Austin, I did not raise you to eat like such a tepig,” she scolds, standing up to grab his plate. He knows it’s mostly lighthearted, but Mum never uses his full name, so he’s pretty sure she must be upset about something else.

Hop gives him a look, one Victor can’t really read but which probably means something like ‘you two need to talk as soon as I leave,’ and Victor just nods stiffly, uncomfortable with the idea of a lecture coming his way soon.

“So, Hop, are you planning on hanging out here today? I could find a film for us to watch,” Mum suggests, wiping the counter of flour left over from her and Hop’s cooking adventures. Hop looks between her and Victor.

“Sure,” he agrees easily, sounding a little caught off-guard. Seems he was expecting to be politely asked to leave so she could tell Victor off. Mum isn’t typically the type for something so dramatic, but Victor wouldn’t put it past her.

“Lovely! Victor, love, could you help me clean up? Hop, why don’t you fetch Gloria and Ma in Wedgehurst? You could invite Leon and his little boyfriend, too, if he can find his way here,” she laughs, wiping her hands on her apron. Ah. There it is.

Hop doesn’t argue with her. “Will do,” he salutes Victor with pitying eyes, bolting out of the house to the next town over.

Victor gets up and starts cleaning.

“You really should call your mother more,” Mum sighs as she watches Hop leave. “I was worried sick for my baby. I only got to see you on the telly, you know.”

“Oh,” Victor blinks. He’d been expecting something worse. “Yeah. I’m sorry, Mum. It was all so overwhelming. I barely had time to eat or sleep.”

“I can see that!” she laughs, hand washing a plate. “But do please call me, alright?”

“Of course,” Victor agrees. He is guilty about that. He’s missed his mother terribly, but hasn’t done a thing about it. Still, this is… odd. Mum is usually a lot nosier, at the very least. “Is that what you wanted to talk to me alone about?”

She purses her lips. “I’m just checking in, Victor, honest,” she assures, not sounding honest in the least. “I want to know how my son is doing. Is that such a crime?”

Victor rolls his eyes, accepting her plate to towel-dry it. “Sure, but without _Hop_? I tell him everything. There’s nothing you need to say to me that he can’t hear.”

Mum side-eyes him, the slightest smirk on her lips.

Oh. Ugh. “No, Mum, not you too…” Victor moans, setting down the plate to bury his head in his hands.

“Saw on the telly last night you’re saying you love them?” She prods, smirk growing wider. She just wanted to gossip. Arceus. It’s times like this Victor wishes he was still out on his adventure. His face is on fire and he can’t stand it.

“Yeah, don’t you love _your_ best friend?” Victor sneers, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Is that _aaaall_ Hop is? Your _best friend_?” Mum teases.

“Mum, stop,” Victor groans, feeling embarrassment flooding his body head to toe.

“Aw, Victor, I’m not trying to make fun of you, love,” Mum coos, sounding mostly genuine. “I just want you to know you have my support, darling. If you two really are together, Ma and I will both have your backs, alright?”

It’s a nice sentiment. He’s still mortified to have to discuss this with his own mother, but he is genuinely very happy to know for a fact their relationship wouldn’t upset their parents.

“Yeah, yeah…” he hesitates. “...Thank you.” Victor sighs, accepting a clean bowl from her.

They’re quiet for a moment while he tries to collect himself, but not long enough. “Are you getting along with them, then?” Mum prods gently, calmer and less invasive than before.

“Who, Hop?” He asks, even though he knows.

“Yes, Hop. You two okay? Spent so much time apart from everyone else lately. You know, when you were a little boy, you used to _cry_ and _scream_ when you and Hop were apart. You, them, and Gloria were inseparable.” She laughs, sighing longingly for a time long past. “Remember when you said you were gonna marry them? You tried to get Gloria to officiate your wedding and made rings out of aluminium f-”

“Ughhh, _Mum_ ,” Victor cuts her off, groaning in embarrassment. “Please.” he swallows hard, willing himself not to blush any more. “...We’re doing fine. I see him a lot more than everyone else, at least. He’s- he’s helping me get through this.”

She turns off the faucet, stepping away from the sink. “That’s good. I’m pleased everything is still hunky-dory with you two.” Mum looks out the window, watching for Hop. When she doesn’t see him, she turns back to Victor, gesturing for him to join her in the living room. “Now, love. Tell me how everythin’ else’s been, won’t you?”

Victor perches on the couch next to her, picking at his cuticles. “It’s been alright. Gobs of fans and interviews, but nothin’ too hard, yet. Um, you know Kabu?”

She thinks for a second. “The nice man from Hoenn? He wished you luck at finals, right?” “...The fire gym leader, yes,” Victor confirms, unsure whether or not she’s aware _he’s a gym leader, so, kind of a big deal_. “Um, he’s been texting me a lot. Just… just pictures of sizzlipede, mostly, but he sometimes sends me nice messages, too. And of course, Raihan is really supportive.”

“Raihan?” Mum raises her brows like something has clicked. “That’s Leon’s little boyfriend, isn’t it? You’re friends with him?”

Victor purses his lips. “Yes,” he nods, a little amused by the notion that Raihan is ‘little’ in any way. “He and I talk a lot. He comes to see me after interviews, too! I really like him…” Victor gushes about his older friend, swelling with pride.

If he weren’t so horribly nervous to be too forward, Victor would probably tell people Raihan was his older brother. He certainly feels like they might be close enough… And he never calls Victor by his surname like the other leaders! Even Kabu has a habit of slipping up and calling him ‘Austin’ like it’s his given name.

He doesn’t know. He just feels seen. Different from the hordes of people watching his every move on the telly or in the streets, Raihan _appreciates_ him for who he is.

Speak of Yveltal. Before Mum can ask him anything else, the door swings in and in comes a throng of noisy people, led by the one and only Hop. When Raihan sees Victor, he grins widely, sharp canines on full display.

“Hey, little man! You rested up?” Raihan greets, hunching over as Victor approaches to give him a hug close to eye-level.

“Yeah, all good now,” Victor half-lies, savouring the hug as long as he can without seeming weird. He doesn’t need _everyone_ knowing how touch starved he is- just Hop. He steps back, hugging Mama as well. She’s shorter than him, has been since they started their journey, but now it’s a lot more noticeable. If he didn’t know better, he wouldn’t believe she was really Hop’s mother, considering how tall Hop is.

Gloria and Hop shuffle into the house proper, kicking off their shoes and making themselves at home on the couch. Leon hugs Mum, sharing pleasantries and carefully avoiding mentioning that he was definitely lost just a few minutes ago.

“Right then, kids, what d’you want to watch?” Mum claps her hands together, studying their media shelf beside the telly.

“I’m gonna make popcorn,” Victor announces as people suggest different films, not the least bit interested in asserting his own opinion on this.

“I’ll join you,” Hop jumps to his feet. It’s odd, uncharacteristic of the usually opinionated Hop to refrain from sharing what he thinks. But Victor will never turn down his company, so he doesn’t protest when they find themselves alone together in the kitchen.

Victor busies himself filling a pan with oil, grabbing the corn kernels from the pantry. When Hop speaks, it startles him so bad he nearly drops the kernels on the ground, holding them close to his chest when he recovers from the little shock.

“So- um...” Hop waits for Victor to calm down. “Um, what did Mum want to talk about?”

Victor’s face turns brilliant red, so he turns away from Hop, turning on the stove. “Uhh… nothing, really. She was- she was mad I’m not calling her enough. She wanted to know how I’ve been.”

Hop makes a face, like he doesn’t really believe Victor but he doesn’t want to put him on the spot. “She didn’t want me to hear that?”

Victor knows he can’t lie for shit, so he sighs heavily and braces himself for embarrassment. “She… ugh. She wanted to embarrass me about…” he gestures vaguely between them. “ _Us_.”

He can’t tell if Hop is blushing, but from his tone Victor is willing to bet he is. “Oh. Us as in…”

“Yeah,” Victor sighs. He throws a single kernel into the pan, watching it carefully so he doesn’t have to see Hop’s expression. Hop doesn’t reply for a while. “So…" He leans against the fridge. "What'd- what'd you say?"

"Well, um," Victor bites his lip, uneasiness settling in his stomach. "I guess I didn't."

"Hm?" Hop is watching the pan slowly heat up too, pointedly not looking at Victor.

"She asked what was goin' on, but I didn't know what to say, really… so I tried to change the subject," Victor admits. "She told me she and Mama were supportive, so…"

"Huh," Hop grunts. "Better than a lie, I s'pose. You… you didn't know what to say?" His tone is uneasy, like he doesn't really want to ask. And Victor doesn't really want to answer.

"Well, um," he grimaces. "We haven't really… talked about it, you know?"

Hop is silent for several seconds, far longer than Victor is comfortable with. "...What is-" as soon as he speaks, he's interrupted by Gloria and Raihan arguing very loudly from the other room. He waits for them to settle down. "What is there to say?"

Victor has to look at him, give him his best _are you serious?_ face. But Hop's own expression doesn't waver, so he relents and goes back to staring at the pan. "Was it- are we… friends? Partners? Or _partners_?"

Hop furrows his brow, looking a bit scandalised. "Are you asking if I see you as a friend still?"

"Well, yeah." Victor is interrupted by the kernel popping, and begins adding the rest of the batch. "You've… you've never called me your boyfriend. To be honest, I feel as if the media knows what we are better than I do."

It might be true. While interviews have mostly been about the Championship- as they should be- more than a few less-credible outlets have grilled him on his increasingly public relationships with his equally famous friends. He doesn't think he and Marnie have ever even hugged in a public place, but he still got dozens of questions asking if the two were a couple. Which, he should add, makes absolutely zero sense, and they'd know that if they'd been watching Marnie with his sister at all.

If the Marnie questions were bad, though, the Hop questions were a million times worse.

He can't really fault the press for being eager, as strange as it is to him that they care so much about two 15-year olds. When he won the Championship, Hop came to him _first_. Not even to his own brother. The first thing Victor remembers happening after Leon announced him to be the new Champion is Hop lifting him like he weighed nothing, spinning him around in a bewearhug that totally knocked the air out of him. The rest of the moment is vague and blurry. He knows Hop immediately moved to hug Leon, too, but the "damage" was done, and questions from interviewers on what that hug meant have been plaguing him for weeks, because _he doesn't know._

Hop doesn't look happy, but he isn't saying anything, and that has Victor worried. He covers the pan with a lid once it's full of corn, shaking it to distribute the oil. It's only when he's stepped back that Hop says anything.

"Do you want to be my boyfriend?" Victor opens his mouth to reply immediately, but Hop isn't finished. "Cause I'd like to think so, I mean… I really like bein' with you, Vic. And I like holdin' your hand and kissing you. But you're the king of Galar, and I'm- what- your knight? It isn't right. You- you deserve someone worthy of you."

Victor fights his urge to sigh. He hates, _hates_ how hard Hop is on himself. Knows he doesn't deserve a single bit of that self-hatred pent up inside of him. But he hasn't a clue how to help. "And who would that be? _Bede_ and his totally-real Unovan boyfriend?"

"I dunno!" Hop's voice rises, just slightly, and he throws up his hands in exasperation. "Someone with enough talent to rival you for real?"

"You are and will always be my greatest rival," Victor confesses, shaking the pan again as more kernels begin to pop. "And not to be cheesy, but… um… you're also the… the only one I want to be with. Um. Romantically speaking." He feels all his confidence instantly draining from his body the more he speaks.

Hop crosses his arms, leaning back against the fridge and staring straight ahead. "Me too. I mean- you're the only person I want to be with, too. I just… I don't want to drag you down."

Victor steps away from the pan to face Hop properly. Briefly, he's distracted by the lack of yelling coming from the other room, but he brushes it off easily- Gloria probably just got her way, is all. He focuses back on Hop.

It takes every ounce of his courage to hold onto Hop's hands and speak, voice trembling and cracked, but he doesn't dare break eye contact. "Hop, I- I _love_ you. Terribly. Nothing you could ever do or say would change that for me. You are 'worthy' of my love, but Arceus, even if you weren't, I don't _care_. I'm stronger with you. I'm better. My world is brighter with you in it."

Hop's eyes are suddenly filled with unshed tears, and it makes panic spike in Victor's skin, but he's instantly calmed when Hop cradles his face in one hand, looking at him like he hung the moon. A couple tears escape him, and Victor feels the embarrassing impulse to kiss them away.

"I love you, too, Vic. So very much. And I'm sorry I doubted you. It’s just… you know. It’s hard, and I want you to be happy." he smiles wetly. "Can- can I kiss you?"

Victor's heart hammers in his chest and his face feels very, very warm. "Absolutely."

Hop's other arm winds around his waist as he kisses Victor, and _this_ , this is what Victor has needed all along. For two full weeks. The feeling that he's safe and cared for and _loved_. He feels overwhelmed, his heart squeezing in his chest dangerously, like he has to get as close to Hop as he possibly can, even though they're already tangled together.

He feels perfectly content for the first time since… well, since their first kiss, maybe. He doesn't think anything could ruin this feeling of bliss, so imagine his shock when Gloria loudly shatters the moment.

"Can you two stop kissing on the fridge? I need juice," she gripes _as loud as she possibly can_ , sending Victor _jumping_ away from Hop with an embarrassing yelp.

Hop laughs, uneasy and far too loud, probably looking for an excuse, any possible explanation for why they were kissing that isn't horribly, blatantly gay.

"I don't care, I just wanted to humiliate you," Gloria interrupts, grabbing her stupid juice. "Also, popcorn's burnt," she points to the pan, where the corn is indeed turning black. Victor curses under his breath, desperately attempting to salvage the batch.

When he moves the pan from the heat, he and Hop stare at each other for a few very tense seconds.

"Well…" Victor huffs, mortified. "I guess we aren't coming out ourselves, then."

Hop smiles apologetically, but it slides off his face quickly. "I'm so sorry, Vic. I shouldn't have-"

"No, no," Victor interrupts, salting the corn quickly. "I don't… regret that. That's not what I'm saying. I just wish… _ugh_. That she'd let us break the news on our own."

"Yeah…" Hop simpers, moving to actually help Victor for the first time, pouring the burnt batch into a large bowl. "We shouldn't've expected her to keep a secret, though."

Victor rolls his eyes, irritation settling in his skin. No, they shouldn't have. She's always been at least a little antagonistic. He's disappointed, and definitely chagrined, but not surprised.

"I'm gonna try to convince Raihan to eat this, okay? I'll be back in a minute," Hop explains, holding up the blackened bowl of corn.

Victor nods, filling the pan again with oil. "Alright. Good luck," he smiles, nervous but comforted by how well Hop is taking being so suddenly outed.

"Thanks," Hop grins, learning forward to kiss Victor's forehead before darting out of the kitchen.

Victor tries not to listen to the discussion, but it's hard to ignore even two rooms away.

"Raihan, you like burnt popcorn, right? Great news," he hears Hop saying.

"Sure don't, kiddo, but thanks!" Raihan replies enthusiastically. He's probably the least phased of all of them- Victor has spent a _lot_ of their time together complaining about his relationship woes. He and Raihan share the unfortunate experience of pining desperately over golden-eyed Postwick natives, so Raihan knows practically every detail.

"Great!" Hop replies with an equal level of half-sarcastic zeal. "Me and Vic are still makin' corn for the rest of us, did you guys decide what to watch?"

"We're watching _The Iron Golurk_ for the fortieth time," Leon says. Leon, Victor is more afraid of. Despite hearing stories about the man all his life, he and Lee only met around a year ago, and his only real conversations with him have been during the post-Championship interviews, the most stressful time of his life thus far. So… He has a good opinion of Leon, for the most part, but he's still very intimidated. And he doesn't know what Leon thinks about him dating his baby sibling.

"Hey!" Raihan argues, interrupting Victor's anxiety. "It's the _perfect_ film! Don't complain!"

"I'm just setting up right now," Mama says, probably dealing with the VHS player. "Don't know how to work this damn thing."

Mama is… well, Victor isn't really worried. She's been supportive all his life, though admittedly she wasn't very present for the first several years. He knows that, just like Mum, she won't care. It doesn't mean he isn't nervous, but he at least feels confident that she won't... Ban him from dating her child, or whatever.

"Well, we'll be done in a few minutes, but take your time," Hop says, and then he's back, measuring out a second batch of corn for Victor.

Victor eyes him warily. "How did it go?" He asks, pouring the kernels into the pan.

Hop lets out a very long and drawn-out sigh. "Nobody said anything. Lee looked a bit scandalised, and Gloria gave me a rather sour look, but Raihan and Mum and Mama were fine."

That's about what he expected. "Yeah. I don't think they care very much. Like Mum was tellin' me."

"Still…" Hop trails off, frowning deeply.

"Yeah," Victor finishes his thought. "Woulda been nice to tell them on our own time. I'll talk to Glory about that later," he promises, feeling the familiar weight of resentment that flows through the blood of any pair of siblings every once in a while. Cain instinct.

In a few minutes time, faster now that Hop is actually helping, the two make four more bowls of popcorn, delivering them to the rest of the family one at a time. By the time Victor has come to the living room with his and Hop’s shared bowl, Raihan has eaten more than half of his burnt batch amidst animated conversation about something Victor can’t follow. He takes a seat on the floor next to Hop, leaning against the large coffee table, glossy and slick from a recent polish.

"Alright! Now that we're all together… Lee, do you have the remote, love?" Mum says once she's settled into the snorlax beanbag she brought in from Gloria's room upstairs.

"Yeah. Everyone set?" Leon nods at the group, lifting the remote high to press play.

They have _The Iron Golurk_ on VHS, a ratty old copy from before Gloria and Victor were born. Apparently it was their Da's, one of the many relics still sitting around the house collecting dust fifteen years after he's gone. Victor tries not to draw some arbitrary connection between Raihan and his father, but he still feels a painful tug at his heart when Raihan excitedly states yet again that this is one of his favourites.

The film itself doesn’t hold much significance to Victor, so he gets through it easily without wanting to cry, but he seems to be more or less alone in that. When the credits begin to idly scroll up the screen, he takes in the reactions from his family.

Gloria isn't shedding a tear, though neither twin ever does. Hop, however, is crying softly, Leon, Mama, and even Mum have all gotten misty eyed, and Raihan is weeping without shame. He buries his head in Leon's shoulder, loudly sniffling over the end credits music. Victor gets it, though he can't imagine a film ever making him do the same.

"You alright?" He whispers to Hop beside him. Hop laughs a bit, as if caught off guard, and wipes away his tears with the heel of his hand.

"Yeah, I'm alright," Hop smiles, leaning against Victor lightly. It feels like a ghost of Raihan's own actions against Leon, less intense and less noisy, but an echo of them nonetheless. Thoughtfully, Victor bites his lip.

"Sometimes," Hop says softly, shoulder against Victor's own, "It's good to feel, y'know? To remind yourself you can."

While Victor likes films, they've never made him emotional. But he can imagine how they might, in another world where both he and Gloria were a bit more willing to cry with others around. "Yeah," he nods, eyes glued to the screen, though he does not read the names.

"Like, um," Hop straightens up, talking with his hands. "You can feel, y'know, miserably sad during a film, but it's all good by the end, cause even if it doesn't have a happy ending, you know it's fiction. So you don't have to stay sad."

Victor is going to try to chirp something thoughtful, but apparently Hop wasn't being very quiet, because Mum beats him to the punch.

"It's cathartic," Mum says. "Healing. Good for kids your age to cry, so you don't forget how to by the time you're old as me!" she laughs, musical as ever but damp around the edges from the couple of tears she shed.

"At the risk of soundin' heartless," Gloria sighs from the foot of the couch behind Victor and Hop, "I can't imagine crying at a film. Like, sure, it's sad, 'course it is, but… crying? For real? It's fake. So why get sad, right?”

"You're so much like your father, both of you," Mum says fondly, and something about it bothers Victor in a way he can't define.

He tunes out the rest of the conversation effectively, staring at the credits until they're gone and trying his best to ignore the knowing glances Gloria sends his way every few minutes. When the screen goes black, he makes quick work of rewinding the VHS tape and putting it back in its case, pretending to read the back cover until the conversation around him comes to a lull.

When all he hears is silence, Victor looks up, shrinking into himself when he realises half the eyes in the room are on him. Mercifully, Mama interrupts, directing the attention back to her.

"It's getting pretty late, hm? We should probably all think about grabbing supper soon," she announces, gently rubbing her palms together. She turns to Raihan, whose face is still wet, though he stopped crying.a while ago. "Raihan, dear, would you like to join us?"

Raihan and Leon share a glance, having a silent conversation to decide. He turns back to Mama. "Yeah, if that's alright with you," he grins, rising from the couch to tower over everyone else. Leon joins him in standing, absolutely dwarfed by his height even still.

“Mum, how about you lot?” Mama continues. Mum shakes her head with a knowing smile.

“That’s alright, I want to make the childer cook for me a little while they’re home,” she explains, and they both laugh. The women meet at the front hall, hugging like they’ll miss each other, though he’s sure Mama will visit again tomorrow.

The rest of the family follows their example, and Victor finds himself standing before Hop nervously, picking at his cuticle as they stare at one another.

"You gonna be alright? Talkin' it out and all," Hop speaks low, so only Victor can hear under the buzz of other goodbyes.

Victor nods. "'Course, Butterscotch. 'S still me sister. I'll text you later, alright?"

Hop smiles softly, glowing from the nickname. "You better. I'll wait up."

Victor rolls his eyes affectionately. "You best not. Go. Eat. Focus on yourself. We can meet up again after dinner."

With a parting smile, Hop leaves the house with Leon, Raihan, and Mama leading the way. Victor gets so caught up in the sunlight on his face that he jumps when Gloria snaps in his ear.

"Rude," he gripes, rubbing his ear and sending her a nasty face.

Mum looks between the two and sticks out her lips thoughtfully, putting a hand on her hips. "Well… I don’t s’pose either of you are in the mood to cook for your poor old mother?”

Victor immediately agrees to the offer, though he knows she’s probably just trying to make them talk. "Sure. Glory, can you help me make some sweet curry?"

"I'm great with sweetness," she snarks, though there's no real bite to it. Mum rolls her eyes, similar, Victor assumes, to how he had minutes ago with Hop, and brushes invisible debris off her jeans.

"I'm going to take this opportunity to read and listen to a bit of music," she announces, grabbing a book and a pair of headphones he hadn't noticed before. "You two play nice, and please don't set the house on fire."

It's her way of saying she won't try to help where she isn't needed, which Victor appreciates endlessly. Mum has a history of getting in the middle of Gloria and Victor's more heated debates- squabbles, she calls them- and it's a pet peeve for both of them. Sometimes, they just have to argue, to be needlessly passionate for a few minutes so they can act like civilised humans the rest of the day.

It's another thing Mum likes to compare to their Da. He was fiery, too, she says.

Victor gets as far as opening the fridge door before it starts.

"Don't blame me for that fiasco," Gloria states, coming for blood right out the gate. "You two can't stay off each other long enough t' make goddamn popcorn. I did _not_ out you."

There it is. So she knows exactly what she did wrong. He grimaces, grabbing a cutting board and a knife and pacing about the kitchen. Rage builds up in his chest, betrayal and hurt disguised as fury, and he knows that if he speaks now, he'll explode. "I need ginger, garlic, onion, and tomatoes," he says, forcing himself to sound calm.

Gloria stares at him for a moment, tense and on edge, and whips around to grab the ingredients he listed from the pantry and fridge. "I didn't. You're the two most obvious people I've ever met. If I didn't do that, Mum'd have found out on the news. Do you want that?"

Victor grits his teeth. "Can you wash those first?" He reaches into the cupboard, grabbing vegetable oil with shaking hands.

Though she does as she's asked, his lack of response is clearly upsetting her. "Victor! Fuckin' _talk_ to me, you arsehole!"

That does it. His silence is broken, and without it comes wrath. He pivots on his heel to face her, skin instantly growing hot with anger and shame. "Okay, fine! It wasn't your decision!" He shouts, voice cracking in a way that makes him wince. "I _get_ that you didn't need to come out proper, that you _knew all along_ and never had to worry about a thing. But I _didn't_! I've been worried about this for _years_!"

She meets his intensity, throwing it back in his face. "You didn't _need_ to! You never needed to! No one cares if you're gay, or- or bi, or _whatever_ it is you call yourself for datin' someone like Hop! I shoulda shown you that when I came out to Mum ages ago! You shoulda felt safe!"

Victor's hands ball into fists. He knows his face is cherrim red, because hers is, too, but he can't be bothered to care. "But I didn't! ‘ _Specially_ as a champion! Even if Hop was a girl, the press'd tear him to pieces ‘cause of me! You _know_ how bad it is for Leon and his partners, but at least _they're_ gym leaders! Hop didn't ask to be famous, much less by my hand!"

Gloria rolls her eyes, laughing sardonically. She sets the vegetables on the cutting board in an uncharacteristically gentle way, crossing her arms over her chest. "Didn't he? He tried for Champion just like the rest of us! He knew what he was getting into!"

" _No one knows what they're getting into!_ " Victor is so loud it hurts, and it shakes him out of his anger for a moment. He takes a breath, steps back, and lets himself simmer. "No one knows what it's like to be a Champion. I hadn't a damn clue it would be like this, and if I did, I'd have given up after Kabu. The gym challenges don't prepare you for anonymous hate accounts or tabloid reporters who care more about your relationship than you do. And Hop-" his rage spikes, just for a moment, but he tries to push it down. "-Hop doesn't deserve to be a part of it."

In calming himself, Victor seems to have done the same for Gloria. Her face is still red and she wears a scowl, but she's no longer explosive. She sighs heavily, grabbing yogurt from the fridge and digging through the pantry for the food processor.

Victor busies himself with chopping vegetables, uncomfortable with the silence but unwilling to break it again. As Gloria is scooping yogurt into the processor, she hesitantly speaks again.

"...I'm not sayin' it's easy. I know it isn't, cause you look like you got stopped halfway through kickin' the bucket," she admits, voice accusatory but definitely softer. "But Hop isn't a child anymore. No more than the rest of us. He can make his own decisions, if he wants to be out with you. An' clearly, he has."

"Okay, so we aren't childer. It doesn't make it easy. Glory, we started datin' _today_. I _think_. I'm not even sure if he's my datemate yet." Victor sighs heavily, scooping chopped vegetables and dumping them into the processor. "I don't want the press down our throats about this while I'm bein' Champion and he's doing research. There's more to us. An' if the press are anythin', it's invasive as hell. I don't want to ruin Hop's life by bein' his boyfriend."

"Even if that's what'd happen, which it isn't," Gloria turns on the processor, speaking louder over the noise, "There's absolutely no reason not to tell your _family_. Rai included. He's a loudmouth, but he knows better than to out you to the world."

"Unlike you," Victor scoffs, feeling guilty and uncomfortable the moment he says it.

"I didn't out you! Like I said, it's your _family_! Mum clearly already knew, I'm sure Leon and Mama knew, Raihan has been teasin' you about it for eons," she throws her hands up in the air, just for a moment, before placing them back on top of the processor to ensure that nothing comes out. "I didn't say it to anyone who didn't know."

"But I wanted to tell them myself, Glory." Victor leans against the counter and it feels like he's going through the motions. This is the third time today he's had to justify himself in this room, all over his relationship with Hop. He thinks that if it happens a fourth time, he'll probably never stop associating cooking with frustrating conversations.

"I respected your privacy with Marnie," Victor continues, staring at the floor. Idly, he notices dustbunnies he'll need to sweep up after dinner. "I knew you liked her, but I didn't tell a soul. Only talked to Hop about it 'cause he figured it out on his own."

"But they _did_ figure it out. The only reason this is a problem at all is that you're makin' it one." Gloria protests, turning off the processor. Neither of them moves to prepare dinner any further. They both lean against the countertop, feeling awkward and angry.

"It was still my secret to share. Gloria, it was _mortifying_ , what you did. You know Lee frightens me. I didn't want him or anyone else knowing I was kissing his little sibling."

Victor thinks his voice sounds glum, melancholy and pouty, but he can't be bothered to sound happier. Gloria deserves to know how he feels. He wants to throw something at the wall. He wants to cry.

"I'm sorry, then! Is that what you want from me?" Gloria turns to face him properly, and though she looks vexed, he can tell she's truly guilty. Twin's intuition, he thinks, or maybe she's just bad at hiding it.

Victor shrugs halfheartedly. "Well… yeah. The damage is done, right? I can't ask anything more of you."

She visibly deflates. Clearly, she wasn't expecting that answer. Grabbing a pan, she turns on the heat on the stove and fills it with oil. As it begins to bubble, she speaks, facing away, much quieter now. "I'm sorry, Victor. I truly am. It was never my place to tell them you were together."

He quickly busies himself with chopping onions, realising he's been slacking. There's a stinging in his eyes, certainly from the acidity, but for a moment he pretends he's really crying, that his absent father with his many 'gifts' was a different man, one who felt deeply and wore his heart on his sleeve. He pretends that he is as emotional on the outside as he is within, and that vulnerability is something he feels safe showing off.

"Thank you," he replies, just over a whisper, as he unceremoniously drops the chopped onions into the oil.

"Are we good?" She asks as he digs through the pantry for curry paste, stirring the onions idly with a wooden spatula.

"Yeah," Victor sighs, small and hollow but genuine all the same.

Without his anger he feels boneless like he did yesterday, as if his energy left his body the moment he stopped yelling. He's so, so tired. But he knows this is where he needs to be, right now.

Being in the public eye 24/7 is Victor's nightmare, but as frustrating as they are, his family has made it easier on him. At the very least, he has a place to hide and people to trust.

And it's scary, and it's hell, but an hour later, when he and his sister and mum and all of their pokémon are crowded around a massive pot of curry, the confidence he felt against Leon comes back, just a little bit.

**Author's Note:**

> woohoo! it's done! why was this so long? it was 5k like two days ago and then i remembered how much I love writing for gloria. I have no good excuse.
> 
> so uh, this is the fourth entry in this universe, so here's a few notes on it.  
> • victor doesn't have a label for his identity, just that he's not straight. same goes for hop. gloria is maybe a lesbian? she likes girls, I can tell you that.  
> • is hop afab? amab? I absolutely could not tell you.  
> • this *does* take place in modern day, but I imagine the Austins (so, Victor's family) to have pretty outdated tech. Thus, still-working-VHS.  
> • Victor is the best cook in the group (he, Gloria, Hop, Marnie, Bede) because he grew up cooking with Mum. Bede is the worst.
> 
> Please feel free to ask me anything else about this au in the comments, or visit me on tumblr! I'm @newexcalibur on there :]
> 
> Thank you so much for reading this meandering beast of a story!


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